Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Full Closure of Ocean Boulevard at Port Set for July 12-15

Closure needed to demolish ramp as first step of new bridge
project

Jul. 10, 2013

LONG BEACH, Calif. – A full
weekend closure of Ocean Blvd. in both directions will begin this Friday night,
July 12, as crews demolish a Terminal Island overpass to make way for
replacement of the Gerald Desmond Bridge.

Ocean Blvd., which transitions to State
Route (SR) 47 as it heads west toward San Pedro, is a major commuter
highway linking Long Beach with South Bay communities as well as a primary
route for trucks entering and leaving the ports of Long Beach and Los
Angeles.

Westbound Ocean Blvd. will be closed at Harbor
Scenic Drive, just west of downtown Long Beach, and eastbound Ocean Blvd. will
be closed at SR-47 on Terminal Island. The closure takes effect at 10 p.m.
Friday, July 12, to demolish the portion of the Pier T ramp that crosses over
Ocean Blvd. Re-opening of Ocean Blvd. is scheduled by 5 a.m. on Monday, July
15, but could occur sooner depending on completion of the demolition.

Also closed during this period will be the
southbound I-710 connector to Ocean Blvd. and the westbound Pico Avenue on-ramp
to Ocean Blvd. Southbound I-710 traffic seeking to go west toward Terminal Island
will be diverted at Pacific Coast Highway.

Motorists who regularly use Ocean Blvd. to
travel between Long Beach and the San Pedro/Palos Verdes/Torrance area are
advised to take alternate routes during this period. Truck access to Pier T
will remain available during the closure. Drivers are advised to follow posted
detours.

Detours include:

Motorists westbound on Ocean
Blvd. from the city of Long Beach will be diverted at Shoreline Drive to
the northbound I-710 Freeway, then exiting at Pacific Coast Highway
westbound to the 103 Freeway (south), then to SR-47 south toward Terminal
Island and back onto Ocean Blvd.

Motorists eastbound on Ocean
Blvd. from San Pedro will be diverted to northbound SR-47, then to the
northbound 103 Freeway, then eastbound on Pacific Coast Highway to the
southbound 710 Freeway to Long Beach.

Southbound I-710 motorists
seeking to reach Terminal Island or San Pedro via westbound Ocean Blvd.
and the Gerald Desmond Bridge will be diverted at Pacific Coast Highway
for the westbound detour route.

For a complete listing of alternate routes and
detours during the temporary July 12-15 weekend closure of Ocean Blvd., please
visit www.newgdbridge.com or download the closure
notices and maps here. Motorists are encouraged to
follow the bridge project on Twitter (@newgdbridge) to receive the latest updates on this road
closure and future traffic information. An alert via Twitter and on the
bridge project’s Facebook page will be issued if the weekend closure of
Ocean Blvd. goes longer or shorter than anticipated.

Access to downtown Long Beach via the the Long Beach Freeway (I-710) will remain unaffected during
this weekend’s closure.

The Pier T off-ramp is being demolished to make
way for the new bridge at the Port of Long Beach. Construction of the new bridge,
being built just north of the existing bridge, is expected to take about three
years. The existing Gerald Desmond Bridge will be demolished once the new
bridge is completed. With the Pier T off-ramp removed, construction will begin
on the west approach of the new bridge.

With two 50-story-high towers, at a cost of
about $1 billion, the new bridge will be one of the tallest cable-stayed
bridges in the United States and the first of its kind in California. It will
raise the clearance over a major Port shipping channel from 155 feet to 205
feet, allowing the world’s largest ships to enter the Port’s inner harbor. And
with three lanes in each direction plus inner and outer safety lanes, it will
be wider and better able to serve future traffic volumes. Other features of the
new bridge include a bike path, pedestrian path and scenic observation
decks.

The replacement project will allow the Gerald
Desmond Bridge to remain in use while the new bridge is under construction. The
new bridge is among $4.5 billion in current and planned improvements to further
modernize the Port of Long Beach and keep it competitive. Work on the new
bridge will generate, on average, 3,000 jobs a year during construction.

This project is a joint effort of the California
Department of Transportation and the Port of Long Beach with funding also from
the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transportation Authority.

A joint venture team of Shimmick Construction
Co. Inc., FCC Construction S.A. and Impregilo S.p.A. (SFI) is the prime
contractor for the design and construction of the replacement bridge.